1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to communications networks. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for splitting a data stream over multiple TCP/IP connections.
2. Description of Related Art
Data storage is an essential part of any company's infrastructure. Rapidly increasing storage capacities and network speeds challenge storage system performance, whether it is at the enterprise level or below. IP storage addresses the requirements of a range of environments from single server to computer room, Internet data center, campus and WAN (wide area network).
IP storage, known as iSCSI, is a new emerging technology. ISCSI allows requests for data, transmission and reception of data over the Internet. ISCSI lets a corporate network transfer and store SCSI commands and data at any location with access to the WAN or, if transmitted over the Internet, to locations with access to the Internet.
As is well known, SCSI is a commonly used industry standard protocol for storage devices. Using the SCSI protocol, drive control commands and data are sent to the drives. Responses and status messages, as well as data read from the devices, are passed through SCSI controllers. In a system supporting iSCSI, a user or software application issues a command to store or retrieve data on a SCSI storage device. The request is processed by the operating system and is converted to one or more SCSI commands that are then passed to an application program or to a card. The command and data are encapsulated by representing them as a serial string of bytes proceeded by iSCSI headers. The encapsulated data is then passed to a TCP/IP layer that breaks it into packets suitable for transfer over the network. If required, the encapsulated data can also be encrypted for transfer over an insecure network. The packets are sent over the network or the Internet.
At the receiving storage controller, the packets are recombined and, if necessary, decrypted into the original encapsulated SCSI commands and data. The storage controller then uses the iSCSI headers to send the SCSI control commands and data to the appropriate drive, which performs the functions that were requested by the original computer or application. If a request for data has been sent, the data is retrieved from the drive, encapsulated and returned to the requesting computer. The entire process is transparent to the user.
In any event, due to the volume of data that may be being transacted, a higher data transfer rate may be convenient. Thus, what is needed is a method and apparatus to boost the data transfer rate.